Czechs rally against PM Babis on Velvet Revolution anniversary

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Numerous Czechs requested Pm Andrej Babis to resign on Saturday, in protests coinciding with all the anniversary of your “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Communism in the former Soviet-bloc state.

Babis has denied accusations he hindered a fraud investigation and says he will not resign.

A junior government coalition party is weighing whether or not to leave this cabinet after Babis’ son was recorded saying his father wanted him to hide in 2009 to protect yourself from police questioning.

The protests came 2 days after similar demonstrations calling for the billionaire businessman to resign. On Saturday the protests were together with celebrations observing the 1989 revolution that toppled the Communist government in then Czechoslovakia.

Protesters filled Wenceslas Square along with the city’s Old Town Square, some chanting “Resign!” and carrying signs saying “We don’t here is a prosecuted PM.”

Many lit candles to commemorate the Velvet Revolution and bands played in the city center.

Opposition parties have termed as a vote of no confidence in Babis’s cabinet, which is expected to take place next Friday.

The centre-left Social Democrats, a government partner of Babis’s ANO party, are looking for whether they should call withdraw support, although a celebration source said a variety of its lawmakers were leaning toward staying.

Babis won support from President Milos Zeman who said late on Thursday he expected the problem to relax. He stated from a television interview yet give Babis another opportunity to form a cabinet if your confidence vote forced him to resign.

Police charged Babis as well as of his children during the past year with fraud, saying that you had manipulated ownership of just one of Babis’s firms about ten years ago then it would be entitled to 2 million euros ($2.3 million) in public aid.

(Additional reporting by Robert Muller Kahn, Editing by Robin Pomeroy)